THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

Since I was in Norway for 6 months in 1989 and working in Horten (which is about 30 minutes drive from Tonsberg, the birth place of Magnus Carlsen), I thought I'd shared with you what it was at the chess scene there. Tonsberg is a very old city but a very vibrant chess-club. I was introduced to the club by the Horten chess convenor, Mr Arild Johansen, a very helpful and nice man (he drove me every week to the club as I did not have a driver's licence or a car). The room was always filled with players, most of them playing standard chess and shunned when I asked to play blitz instead. Those who did were alright, but I won most of the games. Then they realised that they needed to tame the 'foreigner' so the top guns sat down. One was Reidar Weierod, the other was Ivar Charvannes who were both very strong and so I had a hard time. We became good friends during my stay in Norway, often meeting for blitz games during the weekend. One particular old man caught my eye - he was...

While enjoying some blitz games, I was watching the pieces till someone passed me the phone: "John! It's Garry..speak to him, he needs your help".  I noticed that Garry was no ordinary chap given the earlier discussions of him coming to Singapore. So I asked: " Kasparov??" "Please...please speak to him" replied the owner of the phone. I took over the handset and an anxious voice immediately responded " Hello..Hello..this is Garry Kasparov!" With tingles rising all over, I composed myself and answered : "Yes Garry, this is John Wong. I am in charge of your lecture in Singapore. How may I help?" Garry asked if I can provide a screen attached to a computer with ChessBase, which of course is no problem. He then asked what should he be speaking? " How about your game with Topalov in 1999 Wijk Ann Zee?" "Very good, good choice! That's the one I was thinking of! Please prepare the file thank you." Some weeks later, ...

Here are some of my observations based on the player's reports from Rounds 1 to 6. No further reports after that. What I find disturbing are the following comments made regarding the junior's conduct of the games when playing against the stronger teams. Against the Australians (Rd 1): "Linson played against Justin Tan’s Scandinavian. However, he quickly lost a pawn in the opening after a blunder..."   "Cyrus played against Mattheson Lawrence. He was outplayed early in the Sicillian .." Qing Aun as White played a Guicco Piano against Chen Pengyu. Qing Aun was unfamiliar with the idea of preserving his light-squared bishop and it was quickly exchanged. .." Against the South Africans (Rd 2) "Cyrus lost a knight in the opening. .." Against the RSA Team B (Rd 3): After playing a 5 hour marathon the previous round, Iskandar played the black side of the King’s Indian Fianchetto variation well and managed to grab a pawn against his opponent. However,...

I came across the SCF President's remark on the National Junior/Youth Squad performance and an invitation to all stakeholders to give their honest feedback. Well, here's mine. Chess involves 4 parties : players, pieces, a board and rules (not just the rules of chess, but also the relationships between the pieces which constitutes into chess knowledge and theory). Any improvement in the performance of a chess-player must involve these elements - the state of readiness of a player in terms of knowledge of the pieces on the board and the ability to project their movements in the future to concoct a favourable outcome. So its not just the ability to calculate one's moves in question, but the ability to visualise the opponent's responses as well in the formation of one's analysis of the position. Handling these issues while managing them within the time control is key to chess success in tournaments. The first question one would ask about any form of chess train...

This year, our preparations were severely marred by a string of events from the school curriculum. That made it much harder for the team to assemble and work out a consistent training program. The best that I could do was to gather the team for 3 3-hour sessions to drill in tactical play, opening predictions and bolstering their opening choices. The team started well, despatching Global Indian International 4-0 and RI Team 2 3.5-0.5, with Joven saving a totally lost game when his opponent blundered a Queen. Beating ACI Team B was another good score, though Jonah tried too hard to win and lost. Luck favoured us in the early rounds but not later. After lunch tension mounted as the next 3 teams were all the prize winners. It was here that champions would be forged and we came up short - not so in preparation, but in practical play. Although we secured a 3-1 win against RI Team 1, the next 2 pairings were undoubtedly the toughest as we sat to meet Hwa Chong Institution. Jonah played his he...